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Nineteenth Annual Microeconomic Banner
Thursday, November 5, 2026 - Friday, November 6, 2026

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Event Description

The Federal Trade Commission's Bureau of Economics, the Tobin Center for Economic Policy at Yale University, and Georgetown University will host the 19th Annual FTC Microeconomics Conference on November 5 and 6, 2026 in Washington, D.C. This event will bring together scholars working in areas related to the FTC’s antitrust, consumer protection, and public policy missions. This will be an in-person event with a live stream for those who want to view remotely.

The scientific committee for the conference is:

  • Joseph Harrington (University of Pennsylvania)
  • Daniel Martin (University of California, Santa Barbara)
  • Amanda Starc (Northwestern University)

Local Steering Committee: Ivana Komunjer and Nate Miller (Georgetown University)

Organizers: Samuel Kleiner and Eric Spurlino (FTC)

Lead Organizer: Stephanie Aaron (FTC) BE-Micro@ftc.gov

Sponsors

This conference is sponsored by the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Economics, the Tobin Center for Economic Policy at Yale University, and Georgetown University.

Registration

To register, please fill out the registration form with your name, email, and affiliation. You will receive a confirmation email when your registration is complete. We will use your email address to contact you with information about the conference and will share your name and email address with the conference co-sponsors. The FTC Act and other laws we administer permit the collection of your pre-registration contact information and the comments you file to consider and use in this proceeding as appropriate. For additional information, including routine uses permitted by the Privacy Act, see the Commission’s system for mailing lists. For more details, please see the FTC Privacy Policy.

Attending the Workshop

The conference is free and open to the public. You must have a valid government issued photo ID (government badge, license, passport, etc.). The conference will follow the AEA’s code of professional conduct, and requires presenters to adhere to AEA disclosure policies. These disclosures will be included in the presenters’ bios.

  • Agenda

    Thursday, November 5

    8:30 a.m.

    Registration

    (Continental breakfast provided)
    9:00 a.m.

    Welcome

    Ted Rosenbaum (Federal Trade Commission)
    David M. Edelstein (Dean, College of Arts & Sciences, Georgetown University)
    9:15 a.m.

    Paper Session

    Chaired by Joesph Harrington (University of Pennsylvania)

    If You Can't Beat Them, Ban Them: Hotel Market Power and Short-Term Rental Regulations

    Karam Kang (University of Wisconsin-Madison and NBER)
    co-authored with Sophie Calder-Wang (University of Pennsylvania and NBER), Chiara Farronato (Harvard University, CEPR, and NBER), and Quan Le (Harvard University)
    Discussant: Matthew Weinberg (The Ohio State University)

    Diversion Networks and Horizontal Acquisitions

    Mario Leccese (Boston University)
    co-authored with Athos Carvalho (Bocconi University), Shanglyu Deng (University of Macau), and Marco Loseto (Bocconi University and IGIER)
    Discussant: Lorenzo Magnolfi (The Ohio State University)

    Health Insurance Design and the Passthrough of List Prices to Out-of-Pocket Costs

    Luca Maini (Harvard Medical School)
    co-authored with Josh Feng (University of Utah)
    Discussant: Colleen Carey (Cornell University)
    10:55 a.m.

    Break
    11:25 a.m.

    Keynote Address, “Collusive Content in Corporate Communications”

    Joesph Harrington (University of Pennsylvania)
    11:55 a.m.

    Lunch (provided)
    1:00 p.m.

    FTC Policy and Research Session

    Chaired by Samuel Kleiner and Eric Spurlino (FTC)

    Consumer Injury from Deceptive “Bait-and-Switch” Pricing: FTC v. Instacart

    Collin Hansen (Federal Trade Commission)

    Modeling Incentives and Effects of Repair Restrictions: FTC v. Deere & Company

    Xiaowei Yu (Federal Trade Commission)

    Searching for Complex Products

    Ben Casner (Federal Trade Commission)
    co-authored with Katherine Chang (Harvard University), Kirby Nielsen (Caltech), and David Ronayne (ESMT Berlin)

    Antitrust on Aisle Five: How Well Do Divestiture Remedies Work?

    Brett Wendling (Federal Trade Commission)
    co-authored with Xiao Dong (Federal Trade Commission),
    Paul Koh (Yonsei University), Devesh Raval (Federal Trade Commission), and Dominic Smith (Case Western Reserve University)

    Influencer Endorsements, Sponsorship Disclosure, and Sales

    William Violette (Federal Trade Commission)
    2:40 p.m.

    Break
    3:00 p.m.

    Keynote Address, “Algorithmic Agents as Economic Agents”

    Daniel Martin (University of California, Santa Barbara)
    3:30 p.m.

    Break
    3:50 p.m.

    Paper Session

    Chaired by Daniel Martin (University of California, Santa Barbara)

    AI Copilots in Real Estate: Evidence from China*

    Xiang Hui (Washington University in St. Louis)
    co-authored with Lin William Cong (Nanyang Technological University) and Yushan Zhou (CUHK Business School and DEFT Lab)
    Discussant: Timothy DeStefano (Georgetown University)

    AI Summaries Overrepresent Fake Reviews: Evidence from Amazon*

    Sihan Zhai (New York University)
    co-authored with Andrew T. Ching (Johns Hopkins University)
    Discussant: Mingduo Zhao (University of British Columbia)
    5:15 p.m.

    Hors d’oeuvres Reception

    111 Massachusetts Ave, NW, Washington, DC
    Lower Level Multi-Purpose Room
    Including welcoming remarks by Georgetown Leadership
    7:30 p.m.

    First Day of Conference Concludes

    Friday, November 6

    8:30 a.m.

    Registration

    (Continental breakfast provided)
    9:00 a.m.

    Welcome

    Devesh Raval (Federal Trade Commission)
    Steven Berry (Yale University)
    9:15 a.m.

    Paper Session

    Chaired by Amanda Starc (Northwestern University)

    Public Procurement vs. Regulated Competition in Selection Markets

    Pietro Tebaldi (Columbia University and NBER)
    co-authored with José Ignacio Cuesta (Stanford University and NBER)
    Discussant: Keith Ericson (Boston University)

    Mergers With Intermediation: The Price Effect of Distant Hospital Mergers

    Benjamin Vatter (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
    co-authored with David Dranove (Northwestern University) and Sungjin Kim (Northwestern University)
    Discussant: Christopher Conlon (New York University)

    Writing Code vs. Shipping Code: Productivity Effects Across Generations of AI Coding Tools*

    Leon Musolff (University of Pennsylvania)
    co-authored with Mert Demirer (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) and Liyuan Yang (Boston University)
    Discussant: Rahul Telang (Carnegie Mellon University)
    10:55 a.m.

    Break
    11:25 a.m.

    Keynote Address, “Markets and Medicine: Understanding Competition in U.S. Healthcare”

    Amanda Starc (Northwestern University)
    11:55 a.m.

    Conference Concludes

    *Included terminology used by academic presenters is not representative of FTC or U.S. Government terminology for SI.

FTC Privacy Policy

Under the Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) or other laws, we may be required to disclose to outside organizations the information you provide when you pre-register for events that require registration. The Commission will consider all timely and responsive public comments, whether filed in paper or electronic form, and as a matter of discretion, we make every effort to remove home contact information for individuals from the public comments before posting them on the FTC website.

The FTC Act and other laws we administer permit the collection of your pre-registration contact information and the comments you file to consider and use in this proceeding as appropriate. For additional information, including routine uses permitted by the Privacy Act, see the Commission’s Privacy Act system for public records and comprehensive privacy policy.

This event will be open to the public and may be photographed, videotaped, webcast, or otherwise recorded.  By participating in this event, you are agreeing that your image — and anything you say or submit — may be posted indefinitely at ftc.gov or on one of the Commission's publicly available social media sites.

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